TO THE ROOK. Corvus Frugilegus. (LINN.) THOU Social, thou noisy, intelligent BIRD! And my youth, long beside thy high dwelling, was taught That happiness was not in towns to be sought; And since hath experience proclaim'd the same truth, Which, alas! I had heard, but obey'd not in youth. away, Till, wheeling around, thou regained'st the spray ;- The noise made by the female rook, during her incubation, at the approach of the male with food, and when receiving it from him, and that made also by the young rooks, at the approach of the parent bird, is so singular, and so well known by those acquainted with it, that hearing it alone is sufficient to indicate what process is about to take place. How often at morn from my window I'd look (8) Order, Picæ, (Linn.) Rook, RAVEN, Crow, Magpie, JACK-DAW, JAY, &c. The Genus CORVUS of Linnaus to which the Rook belongs, is a numerous tribe, many of them well known in this country. Above seventy species are scattered over the globe, the greater part of which are found in almost every climate. The bill is convex, sharp-edged, having a small tooth-like process near the point. They are prolific, social, and clamorous; building generally in trees; eggs five or six; their food is mixed, some animal, some vegetable. The following are the chief: The Frugilegus, or Rook, is black, with a bill yellowish white, by which it may be readily distinguished from the Crow, the size and colours of both birds being nearly the same. Inha bits Europe and Western Siberia, and well known in this country; builds in large communities called Rookeries, generally on the elm, which it prefers, but sometimes on other trees. Flies abroad, morning and evening, at certain periods of the year, in great flocks; is very noisy. Found in this country the whole year round, but said to be in France and Silesia migratory. It is a bird of considerable intelligence; it is, besides, extremely useful by feeding on large quantities of worms and the larvæ of destructive insects, following the plough for such purposes. It also feeds on corn, and will, if not prevented, pick out, after they are dibbled, both peas and beans, from the holes, with a precision truly astonishing; a very moderate degree of care is, however, sufficient to prevent this evil, which is greatly overbalanced by the positive good which it effects in the destruction of insects. Eggs five, bluish green, with irregular blackish spots and streaks. Flesh, when young, good. A further account of the habits of this bird will be found in the Introduction. See also a poem Sweet sounds! that of HOME, and of PARENTS, and THEE, Will ever be thought of with rapture by me. entitled the Rookery, in my Somerset Dialect. This bird, and the Crow particularly, distinguished by their cawing. Mr. COLERIDGE, in a poem addressed to Mr. C. LAMB, and published in the second volume of the Annual Anthology, edited at Bristol by Mr. SOUTHEY, in 1800, alludes to the creaking of the wings of this bird when it flies: "The Rook-when all was still, Flew creaking o'er thy head." I think that I have occasionally observed this noise of the Rook. In a note to the poem, BARTRAM is quoted as having noticed the same fact in the Savannah Crane: as far as I remember in regard to the Rook, the noise occurs, principally, when the bird is heavily laden with materials for its nest, or contending against the wind. The late Lord ERSKINE wrote a Poem on the Rook, which was printed and privately circulated some years since. I have never seen it; I presume it deserves publicity. SOMERVILE thus sings of the Rook: 1 "When feather'd troops, their social leagues dissolv'd, Select their mates, and on the leafless elm, The noisy Rook builds high her wicker nest." Chase, Book iv. The Corax, or RAVEN, is black, or bluish black; but there are several varieties; some with a few scattered white feathers, some entirely white, and others variegated with black and white; inhabits Europe, North America, New Spain, and is well known in this country. Two feet two inches long; makes Thou social, thou noisy, intelligent BIRD! How oft I, delighted, thy cawing have heard!* a hoarse croaking noise; may be taught to speak; thievish, as indeed are many of the genus; builds in high trees, or on rocks; eggs bluish green, spotted with brown; feeds on carrion, fishes, &c.; long lived; smell said to be exquisite. The Greenlanders, it is said, eat the flesh, make the skin into garments, and the split feathers into fishing lines. The croaking of the Raven is extremely disagreeable; in the silence and solitude of remote woods it is peculiarly appalling. It was formerly considered extremely ominous. The poets have, of course, seized upon this: Drayton says "The greedy Raven that for death doth call;" Owl. And quotes PLINY for his authority. And SHAKESPEARE, "The Raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements." Macbeth, Act i. Scene 5. "I hired 'em at tha cottage door, When mornin, in tha spreng, An birds beginn'd ta zeng. I hired 'em in tha winter-time, Thâ visited tha Rookery, A whiverin by dâ." See a poem called the ROOKERY, in my Observations on the Dialects of the West of England, &c. &c. How oft hath AFFECTION-Begone thou wild dream! Proceed we to pencil the rest of our theme. LOGAN has "The Raven croaks the dirge of death." A modern poet has also taken advantage of the superstition. And shun "the Spirit's Blasted Tree." SCOTT's Marmion. In the notes to the sixth Canto of which is a poem by the Rev. GEORGE WARRINGTON, entitled the Spirit's Blasted Tree, tha contains the following lines: "Three ravens gave the note of death As through mid air they winged their way; They croak,-they scent their destined prey. Ill omened bird! as legends say, Who hast the wondrous power to know, The fated hour when blood must flow." Sir WALTER SCOTT has thus alluded to the Raven in the Lady of the Lake. "Seems he not Malice, like a ghost That hovers o'er a slaughter'd host? That, watching while the deer is broke, His morsel claims with sullen croak?" Whatever might have been the opinions concerning this bird |